[1] For the identification of the sitter as Henri II de Lorraine, and for an argument that Gaignières acquired the painting directly from the sitter's family, see three articles by Francis M. Kelly: "A Van Dyck from the 'Cabinet de Gaignières' in the Whitney Collection, New York, Apollo 22 (August 1935): 91-94; "Un Van Dyck du Cabinet de Gaignières en Amérique," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 13 (January 1935): 59-61; Flotsam from the Cabinet de Gaignières," Connoisseur 107 (February 1941): 3-7. The painting is listed as no. 22 in a 1711 inventory of Gaignières' collection, which was ordered by Louis XIV; the inventory was first published by Charles de Grandmaison, "Gaignières. Ses Correspondants et ses collections de portraits," Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, 1890-1892, 67 and appendice. After Gaignières' death in March 1715, the collection was inventoried and organized by Pierre de Clairambault, who was genealogist of the king's Orders of Chivalry, and at whose house in the Place des Victoires the 1717 sale was held. The painting is described in the 1717 sale catalogue as "Le duc de Guise de son haut, original de Vandeck." The inventory and record of the sale are in the Clairambault collection at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

[2] Theodoor von Frimmel, "Van Dyck's William Villiers in Wein," Kunstchronik 6 (16 May 1895): 385 note 1, states: "Von anderer Seite habe ich erfahren, dass dieses Bild mit vielen anderen aus der Sammlung Sir Edward Grey's durch Erbschaft an Misses Bright of the Stocks [sic] gekommen war." (I have learned from other sources that this painting, with many others from Sir Edward Grey's collection, came to the Misses Bright of the Stocks by inheritance.) This information has taken various forms throughout the literature on this painting; for instance, "the family of Lord Grey," "Lady Grey," "Sammlung der Grey," "Earl de Grey," "Count Gray," "Mrs. Bright of Stokes Park," "R. Bright, Stocks Hall, Herts.," and "Mrs. R. Bright." However, no sales or exhibition records have appeared to confirm these statements. The International Studio article announcing the sale of the painting to William Collins Whitney says the portrait had been in the possession of the Buckingham family and then sold to "Lady Grey" ("American Studio Talk," International Studio 12, no. 48 [February 1901]: xx, repro. xxi).

[3] The painting was lent by Kay to the 1893 Winter Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, London. That same year he sold some of his collection through Martin and Camentron in Paris.

[4] Von Frimmel 1895: 386, provides the names of Miethke and Herzog, and Herzog lent the painting to the 1899 Van Dyck exhibition in Antwerp.

[5] The International Studio article (see note 2) provides Schaus' name, although it was actually Hermann Schaus, William Schaus' nephew, who sold the painting to Whitney. Hermann Schaus took over his uncle's business in 1886, but continued to use the original name even after his uncle's death in 1895. Correspondence from a descendant of Hermann Schaus' daughter (dated 20 November 1982, in NGA curatorial files) mentions the family story of a special search and bet with Stanford White that Hermann could not find a Van Dyck for the Whitney collection. One of Herman Schaus' obituaries (American Art News [11 February 1911]: 4) says the painting was imported from the 1899 exhibition.

[6] Whitney's acquisition of the painting was announced in the International Studio article (see note 2).